Easter 2025 is quickly approaching. As I sit here and reminisce about the gift my son Chris gave me at the start of our family’s Easter celebration in 2023, I recall the absolute beauty of that moment. Truly, Chris was on a mission to share pearls with me, his wife, and his aunt.
If I go back and rewatch the video and pictures of those moments, my eyes are first drawn to the love in my son’s eyes. For him, it wasn’t just a strand of pearls that he was gifting the three most important women in his life. Those pearls were a gift of his love for us and a testimony of God’s love – for him and for us.
As Brandon Lake puts it, for Chris Lucius, those pearls were his “hard-fought, heartfelt, been-through-hell hallelujah.”
They were his gift of praise to three women he loved for staying with him through those hard times, but more than that, they were his ultimate gift of worship to God.
I honestly think those pearls were a gift of surrender, a very public moment of declaration, a moment of laying everything down on the altar, including the ones he loved most, and acknowledging Jesus alone as the ultimate pearl of great price. For Chris, no matter what came after that moment – healing or death – Jesus was his prize.
So, now, when I look back at the photographs of that day, I still see the love in Chris’ face, but I also see the luminesce of that precious strand of pearls he gave me. They still shine so brightly, even through the dimness of time and tears.
That shining luminescence did not happen naturally. Those pearls, even after their trying time in that oyster shell, still had to undergo one more process before they were fit to leave the jeweler’s bench – and before they were fit for Chris to present them to me and fasten them around my neck.
My pearls needed polishing. So do yours.
Whether we want to admit it or not, appearances are crucial – especially when presenting our pearls to others.
In fact, the Bible wisely advises us not to cast our pearls before swine, lest they be trampled in the mud.
In times past, I took that advice to mean that we should simply avoid sharing our pearls with others outside our faith, and sometimes, that is true. But in reality, if unbelievers we come in contact with are to ever recognize and accept the love of Jesus, we must share our precious pearls with others.
But how we share those pearls, especially the giant pearl of salvation that was bought and paid for by our Savior, is so important. We cannot hastily or thoughtlessly cast that pearl without the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Yep, appearances are crucial, as is the timing of those appearances, bringing me right back to pearls.
Did you know that once a pearl is harvested, it must be cleaned and polished before it can be made into a beautiful piece of jewelry? Ironically, the polishing process, though less time-consuming, is just as traumatic for that pearl as the long and drawn-out process of its creation.
And get this! That polishing process involves the interjection of an irritant – actually, a whole lot of irritants.
For the unpolished pearl, the process often begins with a mixture of sand and oil continually rubbing up against the pearl as it turns and tumbles over and over again inside the controlled environment of an electric (or hand-cranked) tumbler.
Think about that for a moment!
That precious pearl was finally ejected or plucked from the very heart of the oyster. What had started as an irritant and a problem for the crustacean (maybe just a tiny grain of sand) was finally finished and gone. The incessant, irritating pain was over for the oyster but not so for the pearl.
Things were just getting started for the pearl, and that start involved the same irritant and issue that the pearl held hidden in its innermost parts.
The very pain that it had worked tirelessly to cover up and hide was now being interjected right back into the pearl’s peaceful environment. The only difference in this time of polishing is that there is no soothing flow of life-giving water to constantly wash in and out of the oyster’s shell.
Instead, there is only sand – and oil.
Don’t overlook the oil, my friends. Without it, the newly formed pearl would be wounded and marred beyond imagination by the sand. However, with the interjection of the oil, the painful process of tumbling and polishing is not only made easier but more profitable and productive.
The introductory interjection of oil mingled with the irritating sand is “how” the pearl is polished to perfection, making it presentable and desirable. Instead of marred ugliness, now, the pearl is beautiful beyond description.
The oil of the Holy Spirit does the same for our precious pearls as well.
Yes, we know how beautiful the Savior is and how precious His blood-bought gift of salvation is. We are absolutely sure of Jesus; our faith in Him is firmly founded. He brought us out of the darkness, carried us through the encroaching flames of Hell, and set us safely on the other side of sin, death, sickness, grief, divorce, addiction, depression, and countless other places of hopeless despair.
We know firsthand of His love. We do!
But if we are not careful, we can misrepresent that eternal love with our own words and actions. Even on our best days, and in our best words, we cannot fully describe the absolute beauty that He can make out of brokenness.
To do so, to rightly share His love with others, we need the oil of the Holy Spirit.
Like the newly formed pearl, we need polishing. And again, that process is not easy. It often seems as long and arduous as the actual time it took to form the pearl in the first place.
So, if your best evangelism efforts at sharing your knowledge and love of Jesus fall short, interject some oil into the process. Ask His Spirit to direct your steps, your actions, and most of all, your words. Let Him show you when, where, and how to share your precious pearls.
Sometimes, a spirit-filled smile may be the best evangelism tool in the world. At other times, a blanket and a peanut butter sandwich might be even better tools for sharing the love of Christ.
Remember, you are His pearl, and He wants nothing more than for you to share your own pearls with His lost and wandering children. Just let Him polish the presentation of those pearls through the guidance of His Holy Spirit.
